Declining might in the limelight: European responses to new regional powers

The article analyses the responses of three established European powers, France, Britain and Germany, to a world of rising regional hegemons. It argues that Europe as a region remains unique as it consists of three regional powers of similar material and ideational power resources and is the most institutionalised region worldwide. The current transformation of world power configurations, debated in competing visions of global order, challenges Europe's central place. Facing gradual marginalisation, the foreign policy adaptations of Germany, Britain and France have been insufficient and remarkably static. Old foreign policy identities still play a significant part in European self-perceptions. However, views are gradually changing as the world becomes more heterogeneous. Among the emerging regional powers, China, India and Russia are perceived as decisive global players. Other rising powers are viewed as mainly regional and, hence, more manageable actors. Finally, the article calls for a general shift in European attitudes towards the non-European world and argues that European powers should overcome traditional Euro-centric world views. Rather, they should start to engage with rising powers in a serious discourse over common global responsibilities.     

British National Party: Contemporary Perspectives

The coalition government has set out plans to dismantle the regional tier and return powers to localities and Whitehall departments. These changes will have significant implications for the way in which transport policy is formulated and delivered in England. When in power, New Labour introduced a range of measures to strengthen governance arrangements for promoting a more joined-up and decentralised approach to transport policy, including Regional Funding Allocations (RFAs). This paper examines the opportunities and limitations of the RFA process and considers the consequences of removing these regional structures for transport policy in England. We conclude that important progress made in recent years to develop effective arrangements for identifying transport priorities at the sub-national tier could be derailed by the Coalition's intention to remove regional governance structures in their entirety.     

Rethinking media diversity policy on the community press in South Africa

ABSTRACT

It has been well acknowledged by historians of South African media that the country had a vibrant grassroots community press under apartheid, which declined with the advent of democracy. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has supported media diversity in its media policy and has also criticised the supposedly anti-transformative nature of mainstream agenda-setting press. It has called for a range of measures to counteract this problem, including media diversity and intensified support for community media. However, apart from the establishment of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), in its practices in government, the ANC has adopted a market-driven approach to the development of the sector, leaving questions of market structure to the Competition Commission and Tribunal. Evidence from the community press suggests that this approach, which amounts to an adaptation to neoliberalism, but with a public service top-up, is inadequate to the task of realising diversity. As a result, the community press is facing deep crisis. The article will then consider why the ANC has adopted an incoherent, even contradictory approach to press diversity, and what policy measures are needed to encourage the sorts of vibrant community press that a democratic South Africa needs.     

IAI library notes

Analytical Techniques in Conflict Management I Manas Chatterji. ‐ Aldershot : Dartmouth, C1992. ‐ 390p. ‐ ISBN 1–85521–221–8

The Chemical Weapons Convention and Arms Control in the Middle East I by Peter Herby. ‐ Oslo : PRIO, c1992. ‐ 127p. ‐ ISBN 82–7288–153–5

The Cost of Europe I edited by Patrick Minford. ‐ Manchester : Manchester University Press, c1992. ‐ xiv, 184p. ‐ ISBN 0–7190–3810–3 (pbk)

Economic Adjustment after the Cold War : Strategies for Conversion I Michael Renner. ‐ Geneva : UNIDIR ; Aldershot : Dartmouth, c1992. ‐ xiii, 264p. ‐ ISBN 1–85521–259–5

The European Rescue of the Nation‐state I Alan S. Milward. ‐ London : Routledge, 1992. ‐ xv, 477p. ‐ ISBN 0–415–08141–6

Fragile Finance : Rethinking the International Monetary System I John Williamson... [et al.] ; edited by Jan Joost Teunissen. ‐ The Hague : FONDAD, 1992. ‐132p. ‐ ISBN 90–74208–02–9

The Helsinki Process and the Reintegration of Europe, 1986–1991: Analysis and Documentation / Vojtech Mastny. ‐ London : Pinter Publishers, 1992. ‐ xxi, 343p. ‐ ISBN 1–85567–060–7

Israele e Palestina : il piano per la pace tra due stati sovrani I Mark A. Heller, Sari Nusseibeh. ‐ Ed. italiana a cura di Giorgio Gomel. ‐ Roma : Valerio Levi Editore, c1992. ‐ 205p.

Military Industrialization and Economic Development : Theory and Historical Case Studies I Raimo Vayrynen. ‐ Geneva : UNIDIR ; Aldershot : Dartmouth, C1992. ‐ 121p. ‐ ISBN 1–85521–286–2

The Nuclear Revolution and the End of the Cold War : Forced Restraint I Godfried van Benthem van der Bergh. ‐ Basingstoke : MacMillan, 1992. ‐ viii, 312p. ‐ ISBN 0–333–58011–7

Politiche della cooperazione a confronto : i modelli di Francia, Germania, Giappone e Spagna. Riflessioni per il caso italiano I Istituto per la ricostruzione industriale ; Paolo Guerrieri, Pier Luigi Malesani, Alessandro Ovi. ‐ Roma : Edindustria, 1992 printing. ‐ 179p.

Ruolo egemonico e modernizzazione in “Medio Oriente”: il dilemma degli aiuti economici americani in Egitto I Armando Salvatore. ‐ Napoli : Editrice Ferraro, c1991. ‐ 155p. ‐ ISBN 88–7271–057‐X     

历史视角下日本学界对东亚共同体的审视

日本学界通过不同的历史视角审视日本与东亚共同体的关系,并设定日本在东亚区域合作中的角色。积极看待古代东亚历史的日本学者,主张吸取近代日本殖民主义和帝国主义教训,日本应积极投身东亚共同体建设。强调东亚历史多样性和差异性的日本学者,主张日本应该借用西方的价值观念和东亚区域外的政治力量,进行东亚区域合作。而延续近代日本"脱亚入欧"历史视角的日本学者,坚决反对日本投身东亚共同体建设。     

Eroding Democracy: Federal Intervention in Russia's Gubernatorial Elections

Under some conditions, electoral politics may undermine democratization, even when the elections themselves adequately meet the usual standards. To illustrate this point, the article examines the dynamics of gubernatorial elections held in the 89 regions that comprise the Russian Federation during the first term of President Vladimir Putin. The analysis considers whether pressure from the federal executive and strategic changes in election timing influenced the results of these elections. The study contends that Putin's experience with gubernatorial elections led him to question their value and, ultimately, to eliminate them. Meanwhile, several of Russia's governors sent clear signals that they did not value free and fair elections. Since governors presiding over Russia's poorest regions were also the ones most likely to be insulated from public accountability, voters saw little value in defending the institution of gubernatorial elections. This helps explain the lack of public outcry following Putin's decision.     

The ASEAN naval build‐up: Implications for the regional order

This paper examines the ongoing ASEAN force modernization in the light of whether it is stabilizing or destabilizing for the region. Donald K. Emmerson's framework for analysing security regimes — the concentration or dispersion of power in achieving regional order — is employed as a basis for analysis. The paper comes to the conclusion that while the ASEAN arms build‐up will not have a destabilizing effect on the wider Asia‐Pacific regional order or balance, it could have serious implications for ASEAN and Southeast Asia. This is because while the actual increase in the number of weapon systems and platforms is not large, it still constitutes a significant increase in percentage terms, and even more so with regard to capability. Moreover, the ASEAN members are building up their forces at a time when there are no obvious military threats. They are in effect engaged in contingency planning. All these factors could be destabilizing for ASEAN's internal balance. As such, there is a need for ASEAN to address the arms build‐up, and introduce confidence‐building measures. One suggested forum for transparency measures is the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).     

China in East Asia: The process and implications of regionalization

This paper assesses the impact of foreign direct investment on China's integration into the East Asian regional economy. The phenomenal growth of investment since 1992 has both benefited from, and also fuelled, the growth of local autonomy in post‐Mao China. The central state's ability to control the process of integration has subsequently been significantly undermined as the relationship between the local and the international becomes ever more important. While the tendency to emphasize low cost production advantages has attracted considerable inward investment in some areas, impressive short‐term growth rates may hide less beneficial long‐term consequences for China's position within East Asia, and for the trajectory of China's development in general.     

The elusiveness of regional order: Leifer,the English school and Southeast Asia

Abstract

‘Regional order’ was Michael Leifer's yardstick of choice to assess the international relations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Leifer's recurrent theme was how elusive, and at times how illusory, regional order was for Southeast Asia. The elusiveness of regional order is attributed to ASEAN's lack of a set of genuinely shared assumptions about their interrelationships with each other and external states. This article challenges Leifer's portrait of a Southeast Asia devoid of regional order. I argue that Leifer's notion of order is theoretically underdeveloped and methodologically imprecise, allowing the analyst to see disorder in every minor perturbation in the region. I propose replacing ‘regional order’ with ‘peace and stability’, the preferred terms of the discourse by ASEAN's policy elites. By the latter criteria, ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific, contrary to the skeptics, have made impressive progress in the last forty years.     

Antipodean Statebuilding: The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands and Australian Intervention in the South Pacific

Abstract

This essay analyses Australian-led statebuilding efforts in Solomon Islands, through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). RAMSI has often been offered as a successful example of statebuilding worthy of international consideration. Here, some of the limitations of the RAMSI mission and its progress in rebuilding the ‘failed’ South Pacific state will be carefully assessed. Despite significant short-term statebuilding successes in restoring security and stabilizing the economy, RAMSI faces long-term challenges centred on the complex politics of political community-building. As an example of ‘best practice’ statebuilding, RAMSI highlights the complexities involved with the two-level game of international intervention: the (conflicting) challenge of reconciling the need to respect sovereign sensitivities with the need to undertake robust political engagement.